Oliver Holden

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Oliver Holden (September 18, 1765 - September 4, 1844) was an American composer and compiler of hymns.

Born in Shirley, Massachusetts, he served a year as a marine, for which he received a small annual pension. He lived most of his life in Charles ­Town, Boston, Massachusetts, after he moved here with his parents in 1786. A car­pen­ter and real es­tate deal­er in his pro­fess­ion­al life, he al­so or­gan­ized ma­ny mu­sic schools, and served as le­gis­lat­or and pas­tor.^[1]

[edit] Books

Holden was the author of several hymn-tune, He also published books on sacred music, "The American Harmony" 1793), " Union Harmony, or a Universal Collection of Sacred Music" (1793 & 1801); Co- wrote "The Massachusetts Compiler," with Hans Gram and Samuel Holyoke (1795); and edited " The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony" (1797).^[2]

When George Wash­ing­ton vis­it­ed Bos­ton in 1789, Hold­en wrote the lyr­ics and score of an ode, and trained the choir which sang the mu­sic that greeted Wash­ing­ton at the Old State House, His popular tune Coronation, to Edward Perronet’s hymn All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, is said to be the earliest American hymn tune still in general use.

[edit] External links

• All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name! Hymn

[edit] References